Disentangling the activity-selectivity trade-off in catalytic conversion of syngas to light olefins

Breaking the trade-off between activity and selectivity has been a long-standing challenge in the field of catalysis. We demonstrate the importance of disentangling the target reaction from the secondary reactions for the case of direct syngas conversion to light olefins by incorporating germanium-substituted AlPO-18 within the framework of the metal oxide–zeolite (OXZEO) catalyst concept. The attenuated strength of the catalytically active Brønsted acid sites allows enhancing the targeted carbon-carbon coupling of ketene intermediates to form olefins by increasing the active site density while inhibiting secondary reactions that consume the olefins. Thus, a light-olefins selectivity of 83% among hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide conversion of 85% were obtained simultaneously, leading to an unprecedented light-olefins yield of 48% versus current reported light-olefins yields of ≤27%.